downloaded Bitlord now my camera light is on but can't access it

Earlier today I (stupidly) downloaded Bitlord - for others out there, don't do this! It came along with a whole host of adware or malware, not sure what exactly. Through downloading Bitlord, Mackeeper was also installed without me being aware of it until it was too late. My homepage was changed to hmining.mobi and all my searches were going through yahoo.


I have found several files (in extensions, applications) and deleted them, as per the instructions in this forum from Linc Davis, which I found really helpful (not the first person's instructions, I didn't install another program!): Remove hmining.mobi.


However, my built in camera (now covered with a sticky note) light went on at some point (I didn't notice exactly when) and will not go off. I have opened up Skype, Photo Booth, and Image Capture, and all programs say there is no camera available.


I used Skype earlier today and the camera was working fine, though this was actually after I had installed and then removed most everything, I believe, so maybe it is something I did subsequent to that? The things I did subsequent to removing all the programs are as follows: turned on my firewall through mac, and installed Norton Security and ran a system scan (came back with nothing to report). Skype is allowed to access incoming connections (setting through my firewall).


So four possibilities: 1. someone has hijacked my camera and is watching me (not creepy at all).

2. Norton security or the firewall is not letting the camera be registered

3. I accidentally deleted something important to running the camera when I was deleting what I thought was malware

4. my camera stopped working for some unrelated reason


Any way to check or figure out which of these possibilities is right? Thank you in advance for your help and advice, I really appreciate it.

note: I have a 2010 Macbook Air, running Yosemite version 10.10.5

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Jun 29, 2016 10:47 PM

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5 replies

Jun 30, 2016 5:50 AM in response to colinfromfurry creek

Try a restart.


Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.


Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.


Isolating an issue by using another user account


If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.


Safe Mode - About


Safe Mode - Yosemite





Jun 30, 2016 7:00 AM in response to colinfromfurry creek

The general consensus around here is:


1) Torrent apps are sketchy to begin with, and recently one carried a hidden payload. While there are a handful of legitimate torrents out there the nature of torrent sites, torrents apps and torrents themselves is a risky business that is has questionable legitimacy due to misuse.

http://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2016/03/new-os-x-ransomware-keranger- infected-transmission-bittorrent-client-…


and


2) Norton and most if not all commercial Mac Anti-Virus solutions have been found on these forums as the root cause of serious interoperability problems in OS X. While the legitimacy of Windows AV and 3rd party protection is very much a part of that platform the Mac side of this has had far less development time, far fewer developers, no cooperation from Apple and has yet to face a legitimate attack on mac because at this time there have been no Mac viruses by definition except those developed in labs that sometimes work in conjunction with Apple and often these fixes are not discussed with outside parties. The best defense against attacks right now is keep your system updated from Apple.

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downloaded Bitlord now my camera light is on but can't access it

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